Man charged with killing wife, stepdaughter in Fairview

Defendant, 58, also is accused of tying up his stepgranddaughter, 14, and having her stay at house during and after the homicides at a West Ridge Road residence.

David Bruce @ETNBruce

Pennsylvania State Police have charged a Fairview Township man with fatally stabbing his stepdaughter and bludgeoning his wife to death in their West Ridge Road residence on Friday. Their bodies were not found until Monday afternoon.

Regis A. Brown, 58, the defendant, is also accused of tying up his 14-year-old stepgranddaughter before the attacks and having her stay at the residence, 6620 W. Ridge Road, until Monday morning when she went to school. On Saturday, according to police, Brown took her out to get something to eat.

Police on Monday night charged Brown with two counts each of first-degree murder, aggravated assault and abuse of a corpse, and one count each of unlawful restraint of a minor and possession of an instrument of crime, according to the criminal complaint.

Brown confessed to killing his wife, Michele Brown, 53, and his stepdaughter, Tammy Greenawalt, 35, police said in the complaint.

According to the complaint, Brown tied up Greenawalt in a rocking chair in his bedroom and stabbed her several times in the chest. He bludgeoned his wife in the garage when she arrived home later.

Police charged Brown with having a bloody sledgehammer and a broken pair of scissors as instruments of crime. He covered Greenawalt with a blanket and left her body in the bedroom, police said. He rolled up his wife's body in a carpet and left her in the garage.

Police forced their way into the residence after a request to check on the welfare of Greenawalt and Brown was made by their employer, Saint Vincent Hospital, after the women failed to show up for work Monday.

Police arrived at the residence shortly after 10:30 a.m. but returned later after getting more evidence. The bodies were found just before 4 p.m., police said.

Before entering the house Monday, police were contacted by the stepgranddaughter's school, Fairview Middle School. The school principal told police the girl arrived at school Monday with marks on her wrists and told the principal that Brown had tied her up and stabbed her mother, according to the complaint.

Police then interviewed the girl, who gave them more details about both homicides. The girl also told police that she remained at the house most of the weekend, except on Saturday "when her grandfather took her to get something to eat," according to the complaint.

The girl said she was home Sunday without Brown, then got up Monday by herself and took the bus to school, according to the complaint. The girl told police Brown was driving Greenawalt's blue Suzuki SUV.

Police pinged Brown's cell phone and located the vehicle in the city of Erie with Brown driving. Erie police apprehended Brown after state police notified them of the man's location, Erie police said. He was transferred to state police custody shortly afterward.

Brown was to be jailed at the Erie County Prison with no bond set because he is accused of homicide.

McKean District Judge Denise Stuck-Lewis arraigned him by video Monday night. A preliminary hearing is set for March 26 at 9 a.m.

The autopsies are scheduled for Tuesday at 1 p.m.

A woman who lives next door to the house where the bodies were found said she saw an older man, an adult woman and a child outside on occasion.

"We didn't talk with them much but they helped us once when we needed it," Olga Kaniuka said.

Another neighbor who lives across the street from the residence said she went to high school with one of the people who lived there.

Kerry Strait said she thought four people lived in the house: an older couple, an adult woman and a teenage girl.

"I haven't talked to them in months but I would see the younger girl get on and off the school bus," Strait said.

Brown was to be jailed at the Erie County Prison with no bond set because he is accused of homicide.

David Bruce can be reached at 870-1736 or by email. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ETNbruce.

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